welcomed them, but did not stop them;
they jumped into the ditch, and prepared to scale the breach.

"Now, my friends," said Athos, "finish them at a blow. To the wall; to
the wall!"

And the four friends, seconded by Grimaud, pushed with the barrels of
their muskets an enormous sheet of the wall, which bent as if pushed by
the wind, and detaching itself from its base, fell with a horrible crash
into the ditch. Then a fearful crash was heard; a cloud of dust mounted
toward the sky--and all was over!

"Can we have destroyed them all, from the first to the last?" said
Athos.

"My faith, it appears so!" said d'Artagnan.

"No," cried Porthos; "there go three or four, limping away."

In fact, three or four of these unfortunate men, covered with dirt and
blood, fled along the hollow way, and at length regained the city. These
were all who were left of the little troop.

Athos looked at his watch.

"Gentlemen," said he, "we have been here an hour, and our wager is won;
but we will be fair players. Besides, d'Artagnan has not told us his
idea yet."

And the Musketeer, with his usual coolness, reseated himself before the
remains of the breakfast.

"My idea?" said d'Artagnan.

"Yes; you said you had an idea," said Athos.

"Oh, I remember," said d'Artagnan. "Well, I will go to England a second
time; I will go and find Buckingham."

"You shall not do that, d'Artagnan," said Athos, coolly.

"And why not? Have I not been there once?"

"Yes; but at that period we were not at war. At that period Buckingham
was an ally, and not an enemy. What you would now do amounts to
treason."

D'Artagnan perceived the force of this reasoning, and was silent.

"But," said Porthos, "I think I have an idea, in my turn."

"Silence for Monsieur Porthos's idea!" said Aramis.

"I will ask leave of absence of Monsieur de Treville, on some pretext
or other which you must invent; I am not very clever at pretexts. Milady
does not know me; I will get access to her without her suspecting me,
and when I catch my beauty, I will strangle her."

"Well," replied Athos, "I am not far from approving the idea of Monsieur
Porthos."

"For shame!" said Aramis. "Kill a woman? No, listen to me; I have the
true idea."

"Let us see your idea, Aramis," said Athos, who felt much deference for
the young Musketeer.

"We must inform the queen."

"Ah, my faith, yes!" said Porthos and d'Artagnan, at the same time; "we
are coming nearer to it now."